Finally, horror story of Punjab’s Sewewala gang comes to an end

The gang, started by gangster Ranjit Singh Sewewala along with slain gangster Davinder Bambiha who was also killed in an encounter by the Bathinda police in 2016, mostly had Jaitu sub-division as its target base.

The four arrested gangsters, including Harsimrandeep Singh Simma, in Dehradun. (HT Photo)

With the arrest of wanted gangster Harsimrandeep Singh alias Simma, Faridkot has finally got rid of the horror of the Sewewala gang which was active in the district since 2011.

While kingpin of the gang, Gurbaksh Sewewala, was arrested by the Bathinda police in 2017, its three top gangsters were killed in an encounter by the Faridkot police in Dabwali of Haryana in June last year.

The gang, started by gangster Ranjit Singh Sewewala along with slain gangster Davinder Bambiha who was also killed in an encounter by the Bathinda police in 2016, mostly had Jaitu sub-division as its target base. Later, the gang started spreading its tentacles.

Simma has not visited his native Behbal Kalan village in the district since 2015 when he allegedly killed a close relative Beant Singh.

In 2013, Ranjit Sewewala was killed by the Sewewala sarpanch’s son. Later his brother Gurbaksh took over the group and avenged his brother’s death by killing two members of the sarpanch’s family.

On June 13, 2017, the Faridkot police killed top three gangsters of the group — Karamjit Singh Dhillon, Jaspreet Singh and Nishan — in encounter. Gurbaksh was arrested on August 21. After Gurbaksh’s arrest, Harsimrandeep Simma and Sukhjeet Singh alias Buddha Khosa took over and ran an extortion racket in Jaitu.

In July last year, Simma and Buddha Khosa gunned down rice mill owner Ravinder Kocchar who refused to pay extortion money to the gang.

How cops zeroed in on Simma

The Faridkot police are learnt to have got lead about Simma’s presence in Dehradun from his aide who was recently arrested by their Patiala counterparts.

During his interrogation, the police came to know about various places in Dehradun where Simma lived. Now, Faridkot police have been completing the legal remedies to bring the Simma and his aides to Faridkot on production warrant.

He didn’t visit his village since 2015

Simma has not visited his native Behbal Kalan village in the district since 2015 when he allegedly killed a close relative Beant Singh.

It happened after Simma and his family started pressurising Beant Singh to arrange the marriage of his niece, who lived in Canada, with him (Simma). But Beant refused to mediate, Simma planned to kill him.

The villagers said that Simma’s family owned 18 acres of land. The family house is abandoned. While his father is in jail, his mother lives at her paternal place.